Windows Phone 8 Unleashed developer resource book available for pre-order

There are numerous resources available for Windows Phone developers to read through and engage with for tips and helpful tutorials on functionality for the platform. Creating the perfect app is a must for anyone looking to create content for a mobile platform, especially Windows Phone where consumers also critically review the overall presentation of content.

Daniel Vaughan, Microsoft MVP for Client Application Development has crafted a book in the depths of code and lookups, which is currently available for pre-order and will be released this coming May. Titled Windows Phone 8 Unleashed, it's resource for developers to better make use of functionality in Windows Phone 8.

So what's the book all about, and should you purchase a copy? Well, if you be slightly out the loop, Vaughan released Windows Phone 7.5 Unleashed, which makes this an upgrade to include everything new in the latest version of Microsoft's mobile platform.

Vaughan teaches through complete sample apps that illuminate each key concept with fully-explained code and real-world context. It's presented with best practices in mind for creating highly functional and attractive Windows Phone apps. Drawing on access to the Windows Phone development team, he also goes into some detail that other resources may lack.

The following Windows Phone 8 enhancements are included:

Voice Commands

Wallet integration

New Live Tile Capabilities

Nokia Maps Control

File and Protocol Associations

We'd be the first to strongly urge any developer (or consumer looking into building an app) to check out available resources, including books such as Windows Phone 8 Unleashed. Windows Phone owners have proven to be critical when it comes to reviews on the store, which is something developers should be more than aware of.

We can't vouch for the book as we haven't got our hands on a copy just yet, but you can check out the book for $34 on Amazon. As mentioed above, it's currently listed for pre-order.

MS can release all the materials they want but it's not the developers fault that WP is not selling. Who is going to want to develop for a platform that dictates what you can and can't do? You can't even choose your own tile colors or notification sounds! I suggest MS read this first, they really need to.

While options are nice, if lack of custom tile color (false, BTW) and lack of custom notification sounds is all it takes for a developer to not make a WP app, there's a high probability few will want an app from such an unskilled developer anyway. The Windows Store has numerous examples of high quality, popular apps that didn't let such trivial excuses stop their respective developers.

I think they're just trying to keep things consistant with their new Modern UI bit. I really don't think it's much different than Apple not having an IDE for Windows or Linux. Android seems to be the only open platform, at the moment.